Men are paid an average of 20.5 per cent more per hour than women at the agency that administers Ireland’s debt.
The National Treasury Management Agency said the gap was due to more men in managerial positions, more women in junior positions and fewer female applicants for managerial positions. Women make up 52 percent of the organization.
The figures include employees from state lender Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI), the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) and Home Building Finance Ireland, which finances the delivery of new homes.
There are more women in part-time jobs, the NTMA said in its 2022 Gender Pay Gap report, with female part-time workers earning an average of 70.8 percent more than their male counterparts. The gap for contract workers was 17.7 percent in favor of men.
The gender pay gap is not the same as wage discrimination, which is illegal.
It measures the average difference between male and female salaries across all positions and does not indicate that men are paid more than women for the same work.
In terms of the median, or midpoint, between the highest and lowest salaries, there was a 17 percent gap between men and women in favor of men.
There was also a gap in bonus payments, with men earning an average of 22.5 percent more than women (21.5 percent median).
“We are committed to building on our efforts to increase the number of women in leadership positions,” said NTMA executive director Frank O’Connor. “We are aware that this will take time.”
Financial firms operating in Ireland have an average gender pay gap of 20.5%, according to the Financial Services Union (FSU), which analyzed data from Bank of Ireland, AIB, Permanent TSB and Ulster Bank.
Gaps at stockbrokers Goodbody and Davy surpassed 40 percent in June 2022.
FSU General Secretary John O’Connell said the gap was “unacceptably high”.
“The figures reported by all retail banks are very worrying and deserve urgent attention,” he said this week.
“This is a real opportunity for retail banks to show that the culture in the banking sector is changing and becoming more inclusive and transparent.”
The FSU calls on banks to make salary ranges public, agree on annual targets to reduce the salary gap, encourage partial retention and flexible working and check salary increases for fairness.
The average pay gap in Ireland was just over 11 per cent in 2019, according to Eurostat, but is far higher in law firms and management consultants, some technology firms and many engineering-related firms.
